Archive for October, 2006

The In-Laws Am I old, or is yelling “Serpentine!” not as funny as before? About Schmidt Midwestern schlemiels do not sit behind the bench at Laker games. Das Boot The TV is clear of dust where the red envelope has lain three weeks. Good Morning, Night What was I thinking? What the fuck was I […]

Discoveries of unpublished poems by famous poets depress me. We already suffer from an enormous glut of poetry — even, perhaps especially, by famous poets — and of art of all sorts. A law that required artists to burn half of their finished product, the way Gogol burned the second half of Dead Souls, would […]

A friend offered me two free tickets to U2 at Madison Square Garden. So the girlfriend and I up and went. Every artist has certain characteristic moments, when the mask slips and you say to yourself, “Ah. So that’s what they’re like.” For Emily Dickinson, it’s the last stanza of “What mystery pervades a well,” […]